Update: After our print edition hit the presses, we got great newsfrom Capitol Hill on child nutrition and the 2010 Offering of
Letters.

Dear Members and Friends,

2010 has been an eventful year in
our efforts to end hunger in God’s world. Now, we have one of the best
opportunities to win changes that will enable millions of people to free
their families from hunger and poverty.

In fact, there has never
been a more important time to urge our government to make a bigger
effort to end hunger. Both human needs and political momentum are at a
high point. We need to seize this moment to change the politics of
hunger.

More than 40 million people in the United States
participate in SNAP (formerly the Food Stamp Program)—the highest number
ever. The poverty rate for both African-Americans and Hispanics in our
country tops 25 percent.

As I write, Congress has not acted on
the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. However, we remain
optimistic that Congress will extend the current EITC and Child Tax
Credit benefit levels along with the rest of the middle-class tax cuts
before the end of the year, even if only temporarily. The EITC and Child
Tax Credit improvements expire December 31. If Congress fails to extend
the current EITC and Child Tax Credit benefit levels, an estimated 1.5
million people, including 858,000 children, will fall into poverty.

Through
our Offering of Letters, Bread for the World members sent more than
122,000 letters to Congress and held well over 100 meetings with their
senators and representatives, strengthening support in Congress for
these tax credits. Congressional leaders and the White House have said
they are committed to continuing these tax credits.

We also
persuaded the Senate to pass legislation that will put more nutritious
food into school meals for children whose families struggle to put food
on the table. As I write this letter, we are hopeful that Congress will
soon finalize a reauthorization bill to ensure that more children have
access to the food they need.

And after years of persistent
advocacy by Bread for the World members like you, the administration is
making changes that will make U.S. foreign assistance more effective in
reducing hunger and poverty.

For the first time ever, the United
States has an overall plan that provides clear guidance to all U.S.
government agencies carrying out development programs in low-income
countries. This Presidential Directive, released in October, promotes
many of the reforms Bread members have been advocating. These include
elevating development as a key component of U.S. foreign policy and
reflecting the priorities of local communities when planning development
programs.

Bread for the World’s work was recognized just a few
weeks ago through the World Food Prize. This Nobel Prize equivalent for
food and agriculture was awarded to me, but it belongs equally to all of
Bread for the World’s members, including you. Your generous support and
active involvement in Bread for the World have paved the way for more
progress. Thank you!

We are also honored that Bread for the World
Institute has received Charity Navigator’s four-star rating for the
third year in a row. The rating goes to charities with especially strong
accountability, transparency, and quantifiable results.

This
year, we have been blessed by a growing network. More than 5,000
congregations now take part in our efforts—representing about a million
church members. We have a rising number of online hunger activists. We
have recently redesigned our website and begun using new online tools to
sharpen our advocacy.

Both the connections made by an expanded
network and publicity from the World Food Prize will help more people
realize that hunger can be ended. We need more political will.With your
support, Bread for the World will continue to work together with
churches, campuses, and other groups to enlist even more people of faith
in our collective Christian voice to end hunger.

I am spending
much of my time in the field this fall, raising awareness of hunger and
of Bread’s work through speaking engagements and media interviews.
Managing director Jim McDonald and department directors capably run
Bread when I am traveling.

You and I have many reasons to rejoice
in this season of thanksgiving and celebration. Not the least of these
reasons is that our loving God is moving in our time to overcome hunger
and poverty. Just when people of faith and conscience need to make a
bigger push, more people are stepping forward. My new book, Exodus from Hunger: We Are Called to Change the Politics of Hunger, explores how we can use advocacy to spur great progress toward ending hunger.

It
is God’s grace in Jesus Christ—who comes again into our lives as the
Child of Bethlehem—that moves us to redouble our efforts to change the
policies and conditions that allow hunger to persist.

May this faith and hope sustain you as we work together to end hunger.

Connect with Us

Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad. By changing policies, programs and conditions that allow hunger and poverty to persist, we provide help and opportunity far beyond the communities where we live. Bread for the World is a 501(c)4 organization.